Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Historic Preservation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Paris residents pressing council for help maintaining Greenwood Baptist Cemetery
Summary
At the public forum, Vanessa Preston described volunteer efforts to clear and document graves at Greenwood Baptist Cemetery and asked the city for assistance; council later discussed arranging a site tour.
Vanessa Preston told the Paris City Council during public comment that she and two volunteers have spent more than a year clearing and documenting graves at Greenwood Baptist Cemetery and asked the city for help with the site.
“My name is Vanessa Preston. I am here regarding the Greenwood Baptist Cemetery... We have been working every extra hour we have in that cemetery. We live, eat, and breathe Greenwood Baptist Cemetery, the 3 of us,” Preston said during the Feb. 24 meeting. She said the cemetery is roughly “7 and a half acres” of thick woods, and volunteers found graves including veterans of World War I and World War II and the first grave they located, “Harry Carrington,” a man Preston said died in 1902 at age 98.
Preston said the volunteers had initial difficulty securing burn permits for vegetation work but that, after speaking with the mayor, the city issued a burn permit that runs through July. “So we're just asking the city for any type of help that they can give us because there's lots of history out there,” she said. “So if there's anything that you guys can possibly do for us, please let us know.”
Later in the meeting, under agenda item 22 (future events), the council discussed organizing a site visit. The mayor asked staff to continue communications and to pursue the possibility of a tour with “Mr. and Mrs. Preston and Mr. Marcus Gates” to view the site and the historical material the volunteers have uncovered.
Why it matters: Preston and the volunteers told council they are recording graves and removing overgrowth on a historic burial ground that appears to contain veteran burials and early 20th‑century graves. The volunteers asked for city assistance with permitting and other support; the council agreed to continue communications and to consider a site tour.
What the city said: The mayor and council acknowledged the history Preston described and agreed a tour would be useful. No formal city commitment of funding or staff time was made on the record; council asked staff to continue outreach and to coordinate a possible site visit.
Next steps: Staff and council will continue communications with Preston and other volunteers about a potential council tour of Greenwood Baptist Cemetery; any city assistance beyond coordination and permitting was not specified on the record.
